What a treat! A winemaker asked us to preview his wines before they are in general release around the country. 
Imagine…. l’il ol’ us! …a part of the wine tasting elite after less than a year of blogging!
Wildfire Blaze is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot. The final blending percentages are still going through final tweaking, but this is a lovely red table wine for everyday drinking. The nose shows the dark fruit scents of the Merlot, while the palate is much more Cabernet oriented with chocolate & coffee, and the back end of the palate reveals the blackberry, black cherry and pepper of the Syrah. The finish is only slightly oaked with gentle tannins. With a target shelf price of $10.99 around the country, we encourage you to seek this wine out — it should be available in limited distribution by early summer, and in much wider distribution by autumn.
We will give this wine a provisional rating, and if the price stays under its $12 max target on the shelf, then it will become a permanent
4 Stars — Highly Recommended
What can we say? We have a soft spot for Malbec from Argentina and this one just jumped off the shelf at us last week. For $10.99 we decided we couldn’t leave the bottle in the store so we took it home and opened it on the spot to go with a snowy afternoon movie on pay per view. This wine is a deep ruby color with a delightful nose full of fruity plums & blackberries. On the palate, there is the pleasant “Malbec earthiness” that we so enjoy along with the fruit. We couldn’t help but notice the lovely balance between the fruit, the earthiness, the oak and the tannins. Our overall emotional response was a smile and we give this under $12 wine 
A friend gave us this bottle of wine and our first reaction was one of, BAJA? Are you kidding? That’s in Mexico! Everybody knows there’s no good wine in Mexico! (famous last words…)
we have to admit that this is a very good wine and is worth every bit of 
Stray Dog Zinfandel has got to be our favorite economy priced, daily drinking Zin. There is no pretense in this wine, you don’t have to think real hard about it when you drink it and it just goes so well with any kind of food off the grill. We served this to friends at a small wine tasting that we hosted because we had soooooo many wines that we wanted to go through that week. Although our normal choice would have been red meat with this wine, we really liked it with the shrimp cocktail as the spice laden finish of the wine complimented the horseradish in the cocktail sauce beautifully. Next, we went to the chocolate fondue pot (oh yeah!) and the hot fudgie chocolate over strawberries was just wonderful with our glass of Stray Dog.
Arabella Shiraz 2006 — South Africa — From a land often known for the broccoli & asparagus overtones in its red wines, this Shiraz is a pleasant departure from that stereotype. This Shiraz wants to have food served with it; it is not our first choice for simply sitting on the deck and watching the sunset. We served it along side a garlic, vegetable, sausage & Parmesan saturated fettuccini Alfredo and it was a great synergistic pairing. The wine was as rich as the pasta dish and we finished both the bottle of wine and the pot of pasta. Very fairly priced, we give it 4 STARS — RECOMMENDED
Auka Merlot 2008 — Mendoza, Argentina — This wine has a great, pungent nose full of plums, currant, blackberries and a hint of caramel. The slightly spicy palate paired well with the tacos we had for dinner that night. And the finish was all dried fruits, some brazil nuts and smooth tannins. We like this winemaker’s style and are impressed with his wines.
Ondine Chenin Blanc — South Africa — This is another lovely example of South African wine at its best. Made from 23-year old vines and completely un-oaked, the nose is full of guava and leads to a smooth palate full of fruit and well balanced with a long and rewarding finish. Again, we like our Chenin Blanc with grilled trout sprinkled with dill. 4 STARS — RECOMMENDED
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